National consultant for Accelerating Disaster Risk Reduction in Humanitarian Action, including supporting the roll-out phase of the Early Warning for All Initiative in Haiti

Result of Service 1. Provide support to UNDRR in the design, planning, implementation and reporting on the Haitian Humanitarian Cycle Programming, including attending meetings of the Humanitarian Cycle Team.

2. Provide support to UNDRR for Pillar 1 on Disaster Risk Knowledge and support the inter-pillar work (governance); and through it to the UNCT (United Nations Country Team) and the National focal point of the EW4All initiative by helping facilitate, where needed:

a. Stakeholder mapping of national, regional and global actors (government, UNCT, NGO, CSOs (civil society organizations), etc.) and existing coordination mechanisms engaged in multi-hazard early warning systems.

b. In coordination with national authorities, and other stakeholders, organize a national consultative workshop to launch the initiative and take stock of status of multi-hazard early warning systems in the country in particular for Pillar 1 on disaster risk knowledge, and establish, or agree on / confirm a coordination mechanism that will facilitate the identification of gaps, and the preparation of a roadmaps for addressing them.

c. Develop a report stating the advancement on disaster risk knowledge and governance mechanisms for MHEWS in Haiti, including if necessary, updating the existing Situational Analysis for the country. The report should compile and integrate information related to national risk assessments, including hazard, exposure, vulnerability as well as other relevant sectorial assessments. The report, will contribute to the development of the multi-pilar and interpillar Gap Analysis.

d. In close coordination with national authorities and other Pillar leaders, contribute to developing a gap analysis across all four pillars of multi-hazard early warnings, and the inter-pillar component. The gap analysis aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses on each of the pillars and highlight areas for improvement.

e. Support the identification or establishment of a coordination mechanism in country to strengthen multistakeholder and inclusive collaboration to achieve an end-to-end multi-hazard early warning system. The mechanism should prioritize national multi-sectorial disaster risk management platforms.

f. In close coordination with other pillar leaders and national stakeholders, contribute to formulating a draft national roadmap that sets out how to bridge the identified gaps, and outline the key actions, technical support and capacities required to establish and improve multi-hazard early warning systems and their effectiveness, as well as agreed timelines and budget.

Support any further actions towards furthering the implementation of the EW4All initiative, upon the request of UNDRR.

g. Under the supervision of UNDRR focal point for the Caribbean (Programme Management Officer), liaise with the Regional Offices of pillar lead agencies (UNDRR, WMO, ITU, IFRC) as required to facilitate streamlined communication across the RCO (Resident Coordinator Office), country officials and pillar lead agencies.

h. Raise awareness and promote advocacy for accelerating disaster risk reduction in humanitarian action and the EW4All initiative at country-level and among the UN Country Team, including sharing information products, convening meetings, making presentations, media outreach and communications, etc.

i. Report and ensure the contribution of UNDRR initiatives into the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, notably related to Group 5 on Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Resilience. This, including supporting the review of the Country Common Analysis.

Work Location Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Expected duration 8 months

Duties and Responsibilities Backgroud

Created in December 1999, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the designated focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of efforts to reduce disasters and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations and regional organizations and activities in both developed and less developed countries. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG), UNDRR has over 140 staff located in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and in regional offices. Specifically, UNDRR guides, monitors, analyses and reports on progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, supports regional and national implementation of the Framework and catalyzes action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk working with UN Member States and a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and the science and technology community.

The world is experiencing an unprecedented moment of fragility and uncertainty. Climate-fuelled disasters are more frequent, intense, and unpredictable, while conflict in many parts of the world continues to go unresolved, eroding people’s coping capacity, rendering them increasingly vulnerable, and resulting in enormous economic loss and human suffering. COVID-19 has demonstrated the systemic nature of risk. Interaction between climate change and conflict and a broad range of hazards are increasingly causing loss of lives and livelihood, food insecurity and displacement, and increasing systemic disaster risk.

During the last decade starting from 2012, the costs of humanitarian appeals increased by 400%. According to UNOCHA’s (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Financial Tracking Service (FTS), more than 50% of the costs for international humanitarian response were not covered in 2021. Between 2030-2050, the impacts of climate change are anticipated to lead to skyrocketing humanitarian costs. Against the background of growing humanitarian needs, reducing disaster risk and enhancing prevention to save lives is critical.

In an increasingly connected world, where risks cascade, critical opportunities are being missed to improve risk reduction in humanitarian contexts. While around 50% of disaster impacts can be predicted with varying degrees of confidence, only a fraction of funding is dedicated to risk reduction and preparedness, underscoring the need for more risk-sensitive humanitarian planning and action.

The UN (United Nations) Plan of Action on DRR (disaster risk reduction) for Resilience (United Nations, 2016) promotes disaster risk reduction as an “integrating element within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Such integration provides a “practical and tangible bridge” between development and humanitarian communities and serves as a “rallying point” between key stakeholders that share the aim of reducing climate and disaster risk at global to local levels.

UNDRR’s (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) ambition to contribute to scaling up disaster risk reduction in fragile and humanitarian contexts is described in under the Strategic Objective 3 of its Strategic Framework. UNDRR amplifies its voice through its convening role, wide range of partnerships and work on stakeholders’ engagement, including engagement with partners to improve joint risk analysis and develop a shared understanding of risk across humanitarian contexts in consideration of climate change.

Thanks to the partnership with the German Federal Foreign Office, over the past three years UNDRR has accelerated efforts to promote DRR in fragile and humanitarian contexts, including through multi-agency collaboration and partnerships leading, among others, to:

• The launch and roll-out of the “Checklist on Scaling up DRR in Humanitarian Action” in 2021 and the adoption of a recommendation to “Scale up efforts around enhancing the integration of disaster and climate risk in humanitarian action and strengthening humanitarian/ development collaboration around DRR” by the 7th UN Senior Leadership Group for Disaster Risk Reduction (UN SLG) meeting in July 2021.

• The development of a training package on “Scaling up DRR in Humanitarian Action” with UN and NGO (Non-governmental organization) partners, which will be rolled out in the HPC (Humanitarian Programme Cycle) 2023, together with a newly developed technical guidance on analysis of inter-connected risks in the HPC.

• Advocacy and normative guidance through the inclusion of disaster risk reduction in the IASC and the HPC guidance documents and processes, and engagement in intergovernmental processes related to humanitarian action.

• Technical support at the country level, through piloting the “Checklist on Scaling up DRR in Humanitarian Action” and through supporting enhanced risk analysis to inform humanitarian planning.

• Contributions to accelerate anticipatory action and the strengthened integration of displacement in national disaster risk reduction strategies.

• Strengthened partnerships with UNOCHA, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) and other partners at regional level, and new partnerships to generate risk information feeding into effective Early Warning for Early Action. UNDRR has also partnered with organizations to establish national disaster loss databases in 110 Member States, several of which face recurring humanitarian crises.

• Support to the development of national DRR strategies in countries facing humanitarian contexts.

As the Chair of the UN Senior Leadership Group on Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR will continue efforts to strengthen high-level support in the UN system for Scaling up DRR in Humanitarian Action and accelerate the roll-out of the UN Plan of Action on DRR for Resilience. UNDRR plays a unique role as the focal point for DRR in the UN system and will leverage this role to influence wider UN policies and guidance, to strengthen interagency engagement around specific initiatives/topics of relevance to DRR and humanitarian contexts. This will include continuing to strengthen interagency engagement and the sharing of good practices on early warning/early action, including through the launch and roll-out of a Words into Action Guidelines on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems and technical support on the implementation of the Early Warning for All Initiative.

Early warning systems (EWS) are key elements of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, as they help reduce or avoid the detrimental impacts of hazardous events. To be effective, early warning systems need to be risk-informed, multi-hazard, multi-sectorial, target communities most at risk, disseminate messages and warnings efficiently, ensure preparedness, and support early action. Multi-Hazard Early warning systems (MHEWS) include four pillars: 1) disaster risk knowledge; 2) observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting; 3) warning dissemination and communication; 4) preparedness and response capabilities. The four pillars of an MHEWS need a governance architecture enabling interactions among those responsible for each of the components, framing their implementation within the overall disaster risk management (DRM) governance mechanisms (Interpillar). Multi-sector and multi-stakeholder coordination, involvement of communities at risk, having an enabling institutional and legislative environment, clear roles and responsibilities, and adequate operational capacities, are essential for effective and consistent Early Warning Systems.

The Early Warnings for All (EW4All) is a special initiative of the UN Secretary General, which aims to spearheading action to ensure every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems by 2027. The Early Warnings for All initiative was formally launched by the UN Secretary-General in November 2022 at the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh. The Initiative calls for the whole world to be covered by early warning systems by the end of 2027. EW4All is co-led by WMO (World Meteorological Organization) and UNDRR and supported by another pillar leads ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and IFRC. Additional implementing partners include FAO, GEO (Group on Earth Observations) Secretariat, IOM (International Organization for Migration), OCHA, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), REAP (Risk-informed Early Action Partnership), WFP (World Food Programme) and others.

EW4All aims to promote collaboration and synergies across all partners working on the promotion, design, implementation, development and monitoring of single, cluster and multi-hazard early warning systems. The Implementation Plan for the Initiative outlines the initial actions required to achieve universal coverage of multi-hazard early warning systems within five years, and sets out the pathway to implementation. The implementation process should be guided by the stakeholder coordination mechanism established or confirmed in the national consultative workshop. Each EW4All Pillar has developed a detailed 18-month workplan and a 5-year implementation strategy, which should be consulted and used as guidance and blueprint. A key focus of this initiative is to promote a coordinated, cross pillar approach that prioritizes strong coordination. A monitoring framework has been established for use in countries, and technical support is also available to strengthen reporting on Target G of the Sendai Framework, which tracks progress on Early Warning systems.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be based in Haiti and will report to the Programme Management Officer of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean (ROAC), based in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Among others the consultant will support process related to:

1) the design, planning, implementation and reporting on the Haitian Humanitarian Cycle Programming;

2) the implementation of activities related to the review of the Country Common Analysis and implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework; and,

3) on activities related to the EW4All Pillar 1 on Disaster Risk Knowledge and the inter-pillar work (governance) including facilitating dialogue among pillar leaders, the national focal point and other national stakeholders, members of the United Nations Country Team in the country, and other important partners.

Qualifications/special skills Master’s degree in disaster risk reduction, climate change, sustainable development, or other related areas is required. A first-level university degree in combination with an additional 2 years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. At least 5 years of work experience in disaster risk reduction is required. Work experience with national stakeholders in areas of disaster risk management, disaster risk reduction, climate change, early warning systems or identification of vulnerabilities and exposures is required. Experience with information management systems is desirable. Working experience in multisectoral or multicounty contexts in the Americas and the Caribbean is desirable. Familiarity with national accounts for Sendai Framework, SDGs or similar monitoring and reporting, particularly with regards to indicators of the Sendai Framework’s target G, and on the Humanitarian Cycle Programming is desirable.

Languages Fluency in English and French is required. Working knowledge of other UN language is desirable.

Additional Information *FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY*. UNDRR values diversity among its staff. We welcome applications from qualified women, men, and people with disabilities.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.